


...And Then Some

by korasami



Series: Avatar Universe - Modern [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aka Zuko's scar isn't a scar, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Not Beta Read, Slice of Life, Sokka is also polyamorous, Sokka is bisexual, Swearing, The Zukka is preslash, also Aang is Korra's adoptive brother, but that doesn't really come into play, it's a black eye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 14:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2154411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/korasami/pseuds/korasami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko's in danger, Asami's worried, and Sokka has a crush on two different people. And then some.</p>
            </blockquote>





	...And Then Some

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up, there's mentions of child abuse. I know not everyone reads the tags, but yeah. Ozai's not a very nice dude.
> 
> There's no plot to this really, just a slice of life piece.

“Bleeeep! Bleeeep! Bleeeep!”

The sound of the school bell sent Mr. Pakku’s math class into a packing frenzy. Binders were slapped shut, backpacks were zipped up, and tears of boredom were wiped away as the chatter of teenagers filled the room.

“Not so fast!” Pakku called to his students, whom, for the most part, groaned loudly at this. “You know that you’re dismissed by me, not the bell. Sit back down.”

Everyone did so, some slower than others. A particularly disgruntled Smellerbee shot death glares at the teacher, pulling out her lunch as she did so.

Pakku waited a few long seconds before clearing his throat. “You are all dismissed.” Everyone began to stand up. “Except for you, Yue. We need to have a talk.”

A few snickers could be heard throughout the room; one of them came from Sokka, who was nudging his girlfriend with amusement. “Sucks to be you, Yue. Should I save you a seat?”

Yue, a very pretty young woman, grinned back, although her voice was dark. “No, but thank you.” The room was almost completely empty now, so Pakku’s disapproving focus was completely on the couple. “He’s going to give me a pretty stern talking to from my dad. It’ll probably take awhile.”

“If you say so,” Sokka said, still smiling. “See you after school, then.” He leaned forward and kissed Yue gently on the lips, staring behind her at Pakku defiantly. At the door, Zuko sighed and crossed his arms. Soon, Sokka joined him, and the pair were walking side by side towards the cafeteria.

“Yue’s dad still giving you a rough time, then?” Zuko asked as they walked towards a flight of stairs. “I mean, sending Mr. Pakku to scare Yue away from you? That’s rough, buddy.”

Sokka looked down at his nails, which were neatly clipped and painted a navy blue. “Yeah, it’s pretty shitty. At least she’s hot.”

Zuko tripped over his feet, but caught himself on the side of the hallway. “You’re not serious?”

Not unexpectedly, Sokka was cackling. “Kidding, kidding. You know I don’t care about looks, yeah? Yue’s amazing, though, really amazing. I just wish her folks would see me past the tattoos and the piercings.”

Zuko slid his hand on the rail as he set down the stairs. “You could always take them out, you know.”

“Change myself for some girl? Never!” Sokka said with a boisterous laugh. “Take me as I am, or not at all!” At this, he pointed his hand at the ceiling triumphantly.

“If it’s any consolation,” Zuko started, and almost choked on his words, “I, um, I like you for you. Nose ring and all.”

Sokka’s face turned maroon, but Zuko was a good three steps in front of him. “Nose ring?” Sokka said weakly. “That’s not nearly my most impressive.” He had meant it to sound dirty, but his warbling voice made it sound pathetic to his ears. Still, Zuko snickered, so it wasn’t a total waste.

Sokka and Zuko were almost at the cafeteria when they were joined by another. Asami Sato was in the eleventh grade, a year above Sokka and Zuko, and was one of the most popular girls in school. She was also dating one of Sokka’s best friends, which made her obliged to sit with them at the lunch table, not that she minded. She had taken quickly to everyone, Zuko especially.

“Hello, boys!” Asami said merrily, walking backwards to get a good view of them. “Have a good day so far?”

Zuko shrugged, and Sokka steepled his hands in front of his mouth in thought, which eventually resulted in a noncommittal, “eh,”.

Asami smiled, eyes bright, her red lips drawn tight. “Don’t worry, the day’s over halfway through. And then it’s the weekend!”

“I’ve got to stay with my father this weekend,” Zuko muttered, and Asami’s face fell into a frown.

“Stay at my place,” she commanded, her voice grave.

“Asami, I--” Zuko started, and Asami pulled him over to the restrooms. Sokka followed.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, going back there. You’re staying at my place.”

Sokka put an arm around Zuko. “I’m with Asami on this one. I wish I could have you stay with me, but, well, it’s probably not safe for you to even set foot in the south.”

Shaking off Sokka’s arm, Zuko moved over to lean against a drinking fountain. “Seriously guys, it’s nothing.”

Both Zuko and Asami jumped when Sokka slammed his fist into a wall. A hall monitor looked over to them, but didn’t say anything.

“It’s nothing?” Sokka hissed, his face purple and teeth clenched. “Damn it, Zuko! You can hide behind makeup, but you can’t excuse the fact that your own dad was the cause of that!” Sokka grabbed onto Zuko’s shoulder as he spoke, and pushed back the bangs that covered a swollen eye. Concealer was present, but nothing could really hide the purpling mess of flesh on Zuko’s face. Asami gasped; she hadn’t realized Zuko’s home life had been that bad. “You can try and deny it all you want,” Sokka continued, seeing Zuko open his mouth, most likely to give excuses. “But I’m not--we’re not stupid. What did he do to you,” Sokka’s voice was getting louder and angrier. “Punch you? Throw a cup at you?”

Zuko pushed Sokka away, and looked out into the cafeteria. Nobody was watching, everyone in their own tiny comfort zone. Maybe they existed outside of Zuko’s turmoil. Maybe they didn’t.

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about it, and I hope you two can respect that.” Zuko said quietly, and Asami could barely hear him over the chattering teenagers eating their lunches and finishing late homework. “Thank you for caring.” His voice cracked.

“Oh, Zuko,” Asami whispered, teary, and wrapped her arms around Zuko’s waist. “You don’t deserve this at all. Nobody does.”

“We’re here for you, buddy,” Sokka told him, then joined the hug from behind Zuko. “Sorry for pushing you. We really do love you, you know.”

Despite the situation, despite everything, Zuko tensed up at those words. “Yeah,” he stammered. “I do know. And Asami? I really should stay with you. You’re right. My father’s dangerous, and because of his status, nobody would believe us about him.”

Asami nodded, and the time caught her attention. “We’ve got plenty of time to eat our lunches. Are you up to that?”

With an affirmative response from Zuko, the trio made their way to their usual table.

There were three seats open, though none of them next to each other. Mai, Zuko’s on again, off again girlfriend (Sokka thought they were on at the moment, but he didn’t particularly care--at all,) had saved Zuko a seat between her and another girl, Jin (Sokka didn’t like her much, not after he walked in on her and Zuko doing things on Zuko’s couch after Homecoming, but she was one of Suki’s best friends, so he had to put up with her.) Jin was talking animatedly about gymnastics to Suki, Sokka’s best friend and former lover, who was patting at empty space next to her on the table.

Sokka sat, squeezing his chair in the too-full table, a table leg jammed uncomfortably into his own. He smiled at Suki, who didn’t notice, so he looked around to the rest of the table. Across from him, two Freshmen--Bolin (whom Sokka considered to be his legacy in the making) and Opal (the cousin of Sokka’s friend Toph, who was still in Middle School)--were working, frazzled, on homework that was presumably due next block. Both Mai to Opal’s left and Mako to Bolin’s right (Mako being Bolin’s older brother, a brooding senior who reminded Sokka far too much of Zuko) were giving them stink eyes, which made Sokka chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Korra (who was probably Sokka’s biggest idol, even if he would never admit it aloud; she was friendly, funny, strong, confident, and open about her sexual orientation--all of which Sokka wished he could be) asked, pointing a pasta-laden fork at Sokka. “Where’s your lunch? And,” she gave him a curious, yet amused, grin. “And why were you staring at everyone?”

“Sorry,” Sokka said, “I was just--I don’t even know.”

“Ah, don’t apologize,” Korra said, and Sokka rolled his eyes. “You got food today? I can share if you want.”

Sokka blushed. Korra may have been from one of the wealthier families in the south side of the city--well, the Raava’s were above the poverty line, at any rate--but she was still from the south.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Sokka told her. He pulled a five yuan bill from his pocket, which he had been saving up awhile; only now he felt comfortable using it. “Yue hooked me up for an apprenticeship with this really cool dude--Master Piandao--he makes swords. I make two yuans per hour!”

“That’s great!” Asami piped in from the other side of Korra. “My dad knows Piandao, he’s a good man. Good for him for realizing you are, too.”

Korra wrapped an arm around Sokka. “I’m really proud of you, kid. When did you find out? When do you start?”

“I just got the call yesterday, that’s why I didn’t show for football--sorry about that, by the way,” Sokka added to Korra, whose outstanding football skills had landed her the title of captain this year. “Master Piandao wanted to show me the ropes, he wants me to get started as soon as possible--”

“It’s no big deal,” Korra assured him. “Zuko came by and told us you weren’t going to make it. He didn’t mention why, though!”

Sokka blushed. “Yeah, uh, yeah. I’m really thrilled. Gran’s excited, too--if everything goes well, I shouldn’t have to go to college.”

Korra frowned at this, but understood his motivation. “It’s never too early to look into football scholarships, and I’m sure there are plenty of art competitions you could enter.”

“Yeah,” Asami said with a friendly smile. “You know, my dad is giving Mako an interest-free loan so he can go to college,” Asami jabbed her finger towards Mako next to her, who looked up from his soup in semi-interest. “And in return, Mako’s going to work for him. I’m sure you could set something up with him, if you want.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Asami,” Sokka said, and he meant it. “But it’s just not in the cards right now, and we’ve been over this before. I need to take care of Katara and Gran-Gran, they’re my first priority.”

Korra raised her hands in defense. “Alright, alright, we got it. We’ll stop pushing. Congrats on your apprenticeship,” the bell signifying the end of lunch rang, stopping her words. “Quick,” she told Sokka, who looked down at the five yuan bill in his hand in annoyance. “Finish my pasta. It’s got boiled sea prunes in it!”

Embarrassed, Sokka scarfed down the delicious meal under Korra’s watchful eye. Everyone at the table was saying their goodbyes except for them, and Asami.

“Thanks,” Sokka said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I owe you one.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. We still on for Saturday?” Korra asked, putting her lunch in her backpack moving to stand by Asami.

Sokka nodded. “Sure are. Wouldn’t miss Bolin’s big day for the world! Yue can’t make it, but the rest of us are down. And I know Zuko’s staying with Asami, so he’ll be going, too.”

Asami squealed, lacing her fingers with Korra’s. “I just can’t believe Varrick Industries picked up Nuktuk! I mean, I can believe it, the Nuktuk stories are great and Bolin’s so talented, but it’s just...unreal!”

“I really hope the release goes well,” Korra added. “They’ve been advertising it a ton in the comic book community--my brother’s really big into that stuff, you know--and everyone’s really excited.”

“Aang’s dragging Katara to the release,” Sokka chucked, remembering this at the mention of Korra’s brother. “I wasn’t even the one to mention it to her.”

Behind them, a custodian cleared their throat.

“Fuck!” Korra shouted, checking the time on her phone. “We’ve got two minutes till class starts. I keep wasting time talking to you, Sokka!”

“Sorry!” Sokka shouted, for he was already jogging towards math. Behind him, Asami gave Korra a peck on the cheek.

“See you in Euro,” she said, and flipped her long black hair. Then, without another word, she dashed away in the direction Sokka had left. Korra, who only needed to go to the Gym next door, stood and watched her leave.

“Later, Asami!” she called with a smile. Adjusting her backpack straps, she turned away from her girlfriend and strolled towards the Gym.

-


End file.
